The IHSA Board of Directors met for their regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Monday, June 11, 2018, where the Board approved new Weekly Player Limitations in the sport of Football for the 2019 season.

The Weekly Player Limitations, which were recommended by the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC), are suggested for the fall of 2018, but will be fully implemented as IHSA Policy for the 2019-20 school year.

“This is the next logical step in a series of collaborative efforts between the SMAC and football coaches to make the game as safe as possible for high school students in Illinois,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “The SMAC was diligent in their discussion on this topic over the past few years and did their best to take into consideration the concerns of coaches when developing these limitations. We believe this Policy protects student-athletes, while still giving our coaches the autonomy to properly prepare their teams and players to play at all levels.”

The changes, which will be a part of IHSA Policy 13 (Football Policies), are listed below:

Weekly Player Limitations for Football
1. A player shall not play in more than 2 games in any one week, and shall not play in more than one game in a single day. For the purposes of this section, a week is defined as the seven-day period running from Friday through the following Thursday. (It is recommended that if a player does play in 2 games in a given week, one of those games is only as a one-way player. [i.e., only plays on offense or defense or special teams])
2. Players cannot play in games on consecutive days or be involved in live contact/thud in practice the day after playing in a game.
3. 1 play in a game equals a game played.
NOTE: If a player plays in a game that is stopped due to weather or other circumstances and completed the next day, the player can participate in the resumed game the following day.

ACTION ITEMS
1. The Board approved a recommendation to authorize the enrollment classification cutoffs for all of the IHSA’s sports and activities for the 2018-19 school year. Classifications will be posted on IHSA.org on Wednesday, June 13.

2. The Board voted to approve Recommendation 1 from the Classification Ad Hoc Committee for the 2019-20 school year. Recommendation 1 would change the classification cycle to a two-year process, meaning schools would remain in the same class for two consecutive years. Read the entire recommendation by clicking here.

3. The Board voted to approve Recommendation 4 from the Classification Ad Hoc Committee for the 2019-20 school year. Recommendation 4 changes the classification enrollment cutoffs in most sports. Read the entire recommendation by clicking here.

4. The Board reviewed the IHSA sports and activities that currently fall below the participation threshold per the terms of IHSA Policy 14 and voted to continuing to conduct them in 2019-20.

Consent items are recommendations that received approval from the sport/activity advisory committee, the Athletic Administrators Advisory Committee and the IHSA staff. Consent items can be viewed by clicking here.

One non-consent item was approved:Wrestling
1. The Individual Wrestling State Final Tournament will be conducted with a true wrestleback format.

Some consent items of note include:Boys & Girls Basketball
1. Mercy rule will be used in all regular-season and regular-season tournament games.

Dance
1. The number of competitors allowed on the mat increased from 24 to 28 dancers.

Boys & Girls Golf
1. A cut will be instituted on the first day of the State Final Tournament, with the Top 8 teams and Top 24 individuals advancing to the second day of the tournament.

Journalism
1. The Sectional date will be moved up one week in 2019 to avoid the Easter holiday weekend.
2. Video News category added as full category.

APPEALS & ELIGIBILITY RULINGS
1. The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student from Peoria (Richwoods). The student moved to the attendance area of a different high school within the same district during the 2017-18 school year. Per IHSA By-law 3.030 and its sub-sections, the student was granted eligibility at Peoria (Richwoods) through the remainder of the 2017-18 school year and would be eligible at the new school thereafter. The school had appealed that the student remain eligible at Peoria (Richwoods) through the remainder of the student’s high school career.

DISCUSSION ITEMS
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain items the Board discusses, but upon which no action is taken. The following is a report of those items from the June 11, 2018, agenda:

1. The Board heard a report from Board member Dan Tully of Niles (Notre Dame), Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson and Assistant Executive Directors Scott Johnson and Sam Knox on the Classification Ad Hoc Committee they participated on during the school. The group shared the recommendations that the committee developed during the course of their five meetings throughout the 2017-18 school year. Two of their recommendations were accepted (Action Item #2 & #3 above), while Recommendations 2 & 3 will be voted on at the August Board meeting for implementation in 2019-2020.

2. The Executive Director reviewed the five by-law changes that were approved by the IHSA membership during the 2017-18 legislative process and will be applicable on July 1. See new by-laws here.

3. The Board heard a report from the Associate Executive Director on concussion reporting from Certified Athletic Trainers (ATC) throughout the state during the 2017-18 school year. The IHSA is compiling historic concussion reporting data and will release the report in the near future.

6. The Board heard an update from the Executive Director on the 2018 NFHS Summer Meeting.

7. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the second annual 5K IHSA Road Race, which was held on June 2, 2018 at Heartland Community College in Normal.

8. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director on the inaugural IHSA Lacrosse State Finals, which were held at Hinsdale Central High School on May 31-June 2.

9. The Board discussed the district proposal that the IHSA Football Advisory Committee will include in the 2019-20 legislative process.

10. The Executive Director, Board of Directors and staff recognized Board member B. Kent Jones of Breese Central High School, and Board Treasurer Greg Bradley of Forsyth (Decatur Christian), who are both retiring at the conclusion of the 2017-18 school year and were attending their final IHSA Board Meeting.